Despite the grand opening on September 7, 1993, the ground work of the then named San Jose Arena, began back in 1988. Back then, voters approved the measure that would be the symbol of downtown San Jose's revitalization. It was in 1990 that original team owner George Gund decided that San Jose would be home to the NHL's 22nd franchise. Finally, San Jose would have a major league team to call their own.

Construction began in 1991 as the Sharks were stockpiling players for its inaugural roster. Construction took about 540 days, despite last minute layout changes and a minor fire during construction in 1992. On September 7, 1993, the doors were open to the finest indoor facility in the world. Along with the Sharks, five other professional sports teams call or called San Jose Arena home. But the arena isn't just used for sports, it has been used for a host of many world famous celebrities such as the Three Tenors, Barbara Streisand, and the Rolling Stones.

In December of 2000, San Jose's city council board members approved the naming rights sale to computer maker, Compaq. The deal would officially change the name to Compaq Center. Of course, the board memebers also required that "San Jose" would always be in the name of the arena. On March 27, 2001, San Jose Arena was renamed Compaq Center at San Jose. In 2002, Compaq merged with Hewlett-Packard. HP agreed to continue the naming rights deal. On November 30, 2002, Compaq Center at San Jose became HP Pavilion at San Jose. The name was also a cross promotion with HP's popular CPU, Pavilion. For Sharks fans, it will forever be known as "The Shark Tank."

FACTS AND FIGURES
LOCATION:: 525 West Santa Clara Street in downtown San Jose on the corner of West Santa Clara and Autumn Streets

BUILDING DIMENSIONS:: 425' x 425', 117' high
SITE AREA:: 17 Acres
EXTERIOR:: Concrete, space frame steel truss, ribbed stainless steel siding, and 10-story pyramid entries
COST:: $163 million
SEATING CAPACITY:: Hockey-17,496 (originally 17,190), Basketball-18,543, Concerts and Multi-purpose events-16,000 - 20,000
65 Suites (21 Concourse, 44 Penthouse), 3 Penthouse Terrace Group Areas

GRAND OPENING:: September 7, 1993
FIRST EVENT:: Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus
HOME SPORTS TEAMS::
San Jose Sharks - 1993-Present (NHL)
San Jose Grizzlies - 1994-1995 (CISL)
San Jose Rhinos - 1994-97, 1999 (RHI)
San Jose SaberCats - 1995-Present (Arena Football)
San Jose Lasers - 1996-98 (ABL)
San Jose Stealth - 2003-Present (NLL)
NAME::
San Jose Arena (September 7, 1993 - March 26, 2001)
Compaq Center at San Jose (March 27, 2001 - November 29, 2002)
HP Pavilion at San Jose (November 30, 2002 - March 27, 2015)*
*HP has an option to extend contract through 2018